GreenishLady

Originally Blogging the Artist's Way. Thoughts, musings, experience of the 12-week course, January to March 2006. And after that?.... Life, creativity, writing. Where does it all meet? Here, perhaps.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

The Colours, Man, The Colours

Spiritdoll posted her Colour exercise. This is what mine turned up this time:

I am Yellow. I am summer-colour. I sound like the humming of bees in clover, the swish of high grasses. I am the colour of sunshine and warmth. I smell of sweetness, honey and fresh bread, roses' centres. I am summer's colour, heat and slow days. I am the drone of distant lawnmower, the flicker of a butterfly's wing, the flash of a goldfinch in the lilac tree. I am happy, cheerful. I am bright, joyful, glowing. I say Yes.

When I did the Artist's Way in 1998, the colour was different. Here's what came out:

I am Green: the colour of earth and earth-lovers, the colour of new life in spring. I am green, the colour of the ocean in its most special places, and of the grass-ocean that waves in the fields. I am green that tints the birds' egg, their feathers. Green in the eyes - the flecks you see. I am green for growth and new energy and rising sap. I am green for freshness of the larch needles. I am green, heart-colour, home-colour. I am green for the land, for Ireland. I am the green that gives rest to the eye, peace to the soul. I am green, the woodland glade, and the elven lights that dance in it. I am green.

And one of my poems:

Song of Purple

I am night-sky, mountain, heather;
the sea in its deepest places,
the rocks that it hides;
the colour taken on by periwinkles in their hidden crevices.

I am crocus, iris,
lilac wants to be me,
rhododendrons crave my depth.
I am blue eyes darkening, the colour of bruises.
I am the land before storms,
the colour in the trees as they lose their last leaves.

I am the lofty colour that still clings to earth in its lowest places:
the steep cleft between rocks - look, not black, but purple;
when you dig the earth you think is brown, look, look for me.
You'll find me there in the crumbled shale of earth's own surface.

I am the colour in the depth of the fire,
at the core of its heat - watch for the purple flame, feel its power.
I am in the sheen of a raven's wing, the spot on a salmon's back,
in the deep woodland flowers,
tiny ones that only scent the air
at certain times, from secret half-seen places
hidden in the purple shadow of last year's leaf-mould.

5 Comments:

At 4/3/06 5:34 am, Blogger Kara said...

Greenishlady, your words are beautiful. They are so connected to the earth and nature so I imagine you to be someone who sees and feels and connects her imagination with the soul of mother earth. I wish I could remember what color I choose back when I first did this exercise in Sher's book and then again in the Artist's Way. I'm sure they are buried in that journal trunk of mine!
I love that you have all of these to look at together. They paint a picture - like a Monet painting. Love that last part of Song of Purple especially the line - "I am the colour in the depth of the fire"

 
At 4/3/06 6:09 pm, Blogger Cate said...

Your poem is breathtaking. I am SO grateful that you shared your words with us!

 
At 4/3/06 7:22 pm, Blogger kellie said...

Ah, so beautiful this post of yours. So many gorgeous, sparkling images. I love this: "I am green, the colour of the ocean in its most special places, and of the grass-ocean that waves in the fields."

Your "Song of Purple" is particularly lovely and inspiring. (I am biased in favor of all things purplish.) Your imagery, depth and tenderness are just...wow. This poem really speaks to me especially because I need to form a deeper connection to the earth, as you display in your writing. Thank you for this!

 
At 5/3/06 2:44 pm, Blogger Endment said...

I am still immersed in the images you have painted with your words... Thank you

 
At 6/3/06 3:07 am, Blogger daringtowrite said...

I love the way you swirl words together.

 

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